Officer Howard gave a heavy sigh as Officer Barnes and I finished our report on the burglary case that we'd been called to.
"Two Rat People, you say," Officer Howard said with a sigh.
"According to the witness, George found, we think they're Black Rats," Officer Barnes reported, "but other then that, we have no definite lead as to where they are or even who they are. They could be high schoolers that live in the area and decided to skip school that day... or simply aren't registered at the high school and are being home schooled... but then again, they might not be. We don't know that much, yet."
"And you intend to ask the school secretaries and the two teens there that took the Animatrix Serum if they've seen any others?" Officer Howard asked.
"Any that we don't know of at the moment, sir," I nodded.
"And then you intend to go off and supervise your wife taking a driving test..." Officer Howard finished his summary of what our report and plan was.
"That is about it, sir," I said weakly, "because Molly was too big to drive anything when we first moved her, and our Cabin is close enough to Columbia Falls that we haven't minded walking... the issue with Molly's license wasn't a problem. Even if we'd tried getting her the license within sixty days of declaring residency, they wouldn't have had a vehicle with which to test Molly on, and thus she would of failed because she couldn't take the driving test."
"And you think they're going to accept this Transit that you've bought for personal use as an appropriate test vehicle?" Officer Howard wondered.
"It's the only vehicle she'll be capable of driving," I sighed, "physically, I mean. She does know the basic traffic laws and all that."
"I can't tell you what will happen with that, Officer Wayne," Officer Howard gave a sigh, "I'll pull whatever strings I can... and you will be assigned to supervise your wife's testing... but I do not know for sure how this will work when it comes to getting her a license. You may simply have to settle with how the dice land, as it were."
"We need this, sir," I said slowly, "I can't be with her all the time... and we have cubs on the way. Once their born, we'll have to alternate in terms of taking them to appointments and everything that will be needed for their care."
"I'm in your corner, Officer Wayne, believe me, I am," Officer Howard answered, "I'll do what I can. It'll probably get your wife approved for the license provided she can pass the tests, but you'll still have to pay a fairly hefty fine."
"I had expected having to pay a fine," I sighed, "that won't be a problem."
"And in the meantime, you have these two rats to find," Officer Howard sighed, returning things to the main topic of conversation.
"Yes," Officer Barnes nodded, "We have the fingerprints that we collected. We can send them in to see if any matches come up... see exactly WHO we're looking for."
Officer Howard nodded, "That'll take a day or two... depending on how efficient the mail works. In the meantime, I'd also advise that the two of you warn the local pawn shops. If these thieves are only after money, the jewelry and the DVD player will end up there. And they might even have seen your thieves."
Officer Barnes and I both nodded.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next morning and the activities that would go on as part of the day's excitement came without much noise or fanfare. Though, few days really did. Molly and I got up and did our best to prepare for our day. The only thing that was differently then what we had done on previous days was that Molly took a much larger breakfast portion then she had in the past. Even with her pregnancy, the portion was much larger then what she normally took, though, I assumed that that had to do with the fact that she would lose her lunch period and a fair portion of her afternoon to doing the driving test. I packed a relatively light lunch, which I figured I'd eat while Molly took the written portion of the testing.
Heading in to the station was done as we had planned out earlier. I drove the Transit that Molly and I had bought in to the station. From there, I would pick Molly up at lunch time and then drive her to the Community Hall. But that was still something that would come later. The mission for the morning had to do with seeing if anyone else had seen the two Rat people that had burglarized a home on the west side of town the day before.
"So, how many people are you fitting in that thing?" Officer Barnes wondered as I got out and locked the doors.
"In terms of passenger room... probably more then I need," I managed to shrug, "but it's the only thing that Molly and fit in and can drive. Besides... we have twin cubs on the way... and who know. If Molly and I ever get the shot to visit Peoria again, we'd now be able to take all of Molly's relatives with us. Or you and Officer Jenkins and Megan could come along if you wanted to."
"Ah ha," Officer Barnes gave a shrug.
"It looks nice, George," Officer Jenkins answered and moved Officer Barnes along.
"Going to Illinois isn't the morning mission for today, though," Officer Barnes reminded me.
"Of course," I nodded.
Officer Barnes and I were quick to sign in and were soon out on the road. We ran a quiet morning patrol while waiting for the schools to open and begin their day. Nothing happened in the course of that patrol, which was something of a relief when Officer Barnes pulled up to the front of the High School. The buses had long since left and the students were all beginning their days. Officer Barnes parked quietly in a "visitor" parking space and we made our way toward the front door of the school. From there, we made our way into the office. While Marcella or Amos might have been more reliable for knowing who was who among the students, we'd only ask them to be pulled out of class if the secretaries and the new DARE officer, Madeline Pryor, didn't know.
"Is there something we can help you with officers?" the main secretary asked as we approached her desk.
"We're mostly following up on some information we received regarding a burglary, yesterday," Officer Barnes explained, "according to one witness, he saw the burglars moving along an alley behind his house. They were Animal People and the witness seemed to think they were seniors from the high school having a skip day, or something like that."
"I'll have Ms. Tyeree and Mr. Vin come down to the office," the secretary said slowly, "I'm pretty sure they were in, yesterday, though."
"They aren't the thieves," I told her, "based on the scent they'd left behind and the witness statements we got, what we're looking for are a pair of male rats... Black Rats. All we need from you... or from Officer Pryor is confirmation as to whether or not Marcella Tyeree and Amos Vin are the only Animal People enrolled here at the moment."
"I'm afraid our attendance records wouldn't show that, sirs," the secretary said slowly, "that'd just show a name. And all our species data is applied in reference to when they entered this school district. We haven't even been able to fully update our files for Ms. Tyeree and Mr. Vin... and given that both are eighteen and are on track to graduate this May, I'm not entirely sure on whether their data has been fully updated to go along with the changes in their species."
"Have you seen any new Animal People come in?" I asked, "besides them? You are in position to see everyone that comes in or out."
"I see a fair amount, but if I'm busy with some things related to paperwork or scheduling other school affairs, I may not be looking up when everyone is going in," the secretary answered.
"Nuts..." Officer Barnes grumbled, "we may wish to talk with either Mr. Vin or Ms. Tyeree, but if you don't mind, we'll check with Officer Pryor. We'll go over the security camera footage of what's going on right now, and see if there are any Animal People besides the two house cats that we know go to school here. If nothing comes up... we'll come back."
"Of course, officers," the secretary replied.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We found Officer Pryor quietly working on some various reports, possibly related recent assignments she'd completed as Columbia Falls' new full time DARE officer. The small office hadn't changed all that much since Officer Barnes and I had filled in for the DARE officer who had been killed in Bill Williams' rampage the previous early spring/late winter. She seemed rather surprised to see us come through the door.
"Oh... Officer Barnes and Wayne... good to see you..." she spoke in a friendly manner, "things are going well, I hope, right? I mean, you two aren't in trouble?"
"We're not in trouble, yet," Officer Barnes quipped, "we're here because we need to check some of the things on the security cameras."
"Is something wrong?" Officer Pryor asked as she moved to go through the security camera images for us, "has someone done something they shouldn't have?"
"Someone has," I nodded, "the problem is that based off of the witness information that we have, we can't really be sure as to whether or not the culprit was a student here or not. For the moment, we need to check the present security camera footage to see if there is anyone in school today that matches the description that we were given."
"And what was that?" Officer Pryor wondered.
"Two male Black Rat people," Officer Barnes said slowly.
Officer Pryor rapidly set to running through the security camera images, though she did feel compelled to add her own two cents to try and help us out.
"I'm not sure if this will help you guys out much... but I don't think I've ever seen any Rat People... there are two Cat People, but no rats..." Officer Pryor said slowly.
"We know about the two Cat People," I told her, "we just need to check here with you to make sure if there are any in today."
"And if there aren't?" Officer Pryor wondered, "Is there something you'll want me to do?"
"If there aren't we'll ask the secretaries to call Ms. Tyeree or Mr. Vin down to the office and we'll ask them if they've seen any other Animal People in the school," Officer Barnes answered, "And if not, we know that whoever our thief was, he wasn't a student here."
Officer Pryor nodded and we continued to look through the various screens as they came up. They showed the images of students going through their studies, or maneuvering through the halls for some reason or another. Basically the things that Officer Pryor should see on a routine basis. As Officer Barnes and I looked through them, we could not see any Animal People on the screens other then Amos and Marcella.
"You see any?" Officer Barnes asked me.
"No..." I gave a sigh, "You?"
"No," Officer Barnes sighed, "It looks like we'll have to talk to the cats..."
"I'm sorry I could not be of any more help to you," Officer Pryor spoke to us.
"You've done more then enough," I told her, "You've helped us narrow down who our suspects are... or aren't, as the case may be. And for that, Officer Barnes and I both thank you for your help."
"You're welcome," Officer Pryor spoke.
Officer Barnes and I then returned to the office where the secretary was waiting.
"Did you have any luck?" she asked.
"Afraid not," Officer Barnes sighed, "could we ask that you call either Amos Vin or Marcella Tyeree down. We'd like to ask them if they know if any other of their classmates have taken the Animatrix Serum."
"Why do you think they would know?" the secretary wondered.
"Because they're Animal People too," I commented, "they're bound to pay attention to things like that."
"And which of the two would like to be called down?" the secretary asked.
"Either one," Officer Barnes asked, "we only need one of them to finish that which we need to do."
"Would you mind if we used your "detention room"?" I asked, "to at least stay out of the way of things."
"No, that wouldn't be a problem," the secretary then lead us through the office to the room where those with an "in school suspension" would spend the day. There was, thankfully, no one there. "Wait here. Your questionee will be down shortly."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A few moments later, it was the Maine Coon female, Marcella, who came in to the room. She recognized me easily and did her best to maintain her composure.
"Hello," she said slowly, "I was told you wanted to speak with me?"
Officer Barnes nodded and sighed, "Yes, yes we did..."
I stood by while Officer Barnes explained the basics that we had gotten from the witness statements regarding the burglary that we had investigated. When he mentioned that we believed our suspects to be Black Rats, Marcella began to lick the lips of her muzzle, as if expecting food.
"Sorry," she spoke catching herself after a brief moment, "The Maine Coon was originally bred as a mousing cat... and given its size... among the largest of all Domestic House Cats, dealing with the Black and Brown Rat was probably another thing that the Maine Coon was expected to do..."
"And so you instinctively see them as food?" Officer Barnes asked.
"That is the image in my mind at the mention the animal... though I'd suppose that doing that with Animal People would be grounds for assault," Marcella sighed.
"Yes... and remember, because the Animatrix Serum can not remove body mass and make them as small as the Black Rat is in nature, they are going to be about the same size they were before they took the serum," I reminded her, "just as you're the same size as when you took the serum."
"I'm actually a little bit taller then I was," Marcella corrected, "I don't know about my weight though... I've never really kept real tight track of it."
Officer Barnes only shrugged in response, "all we need from you, Ms. Tyeree..."
"Call me Marcella," Marcella urged, "All the Ms., Miss, and Mrs. stuff is way too formal, and I'm not married, yet, so I can't be a Mrs."
"...Marcella," Officer Barnes said slowly, "All we need from you is if you know if any of your classmates have taken the Animatrix Serum."
"And if so, what species," I added, "As Officer Barnes told you, our witnesses thought they were students here that were skipping school that day. We need to confirm if they are students or not in order to know where to look..."
"Not here," Marcella answered, "Amos and I haven't seen any other Animal People here besides ourselves and you and your wife, Officer Wayne."
"So they weren't students," I said to Officer Barnes.
"It would appear that way," Officer Barnes commented, "If they are of a student's age they're being home schooled..."
"What should Amos and I do if someone comes to my family's home?" Marcella asked, sounding slightly nervous, "what if they're armed."
"If they come in and you know they've come in... do your best to know what is going on and find out whether or not they're armed..." Officer Barnes advised, "there are two of them, so I doubt you and your boyfriend can jump them, and if they're armed, they won't hesitate to escalate from burglary to murder. If they get into your house, the absolutely smartest thing you can do is get out, go to a neighbor and call the police."
"And whoever is on duty at the time will be sent," I added, "and they will deal these crooks."
"And how do we keep them out?" Marcella wondered.
"The best you can do is to have good locks... maybe one that doesn't rely on a bolt or some other mechanism that can be picked," I advised, "that sort of thing. Some people own large working breeds of dog to act as guard dogs, German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, that sort of thing."
"I don't think my dad will be buying a dog," Marcella answered, "and to be honest, since I've become a Maine Coon... a lot of the ones that bark a lot make me feel uneasy. It's an instinctual thing, you understand."
I nodded, "Just be careful. Good locks, having good contact with your neighbors, and possibly not having anything that would look valuable in the open would be good things to do."
"Sorry I couldn't be of more help to you," Marcella sighed.
"It's alright," Officer Barnes replied, "You're helping us narrow things down."